I have a long history of volunteering and serving as a board member of organizations that serve girls such as Girl Scouts, Girls Hope of Pittsburgh, Girls on the Run, Step Up for Women and Girls Inc of NYC so I know first-hand the unique value of single-gender learning experiences. As a mother of two daughters, I am a staunch advocate for efforts to leverage single-gender expertise to uniquely serve the needs of girls. And so, when I first heard about the lawsuit the Girls Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) filed against the Boy Scouts of Americafor trademark infringement, it made me want to shine a light on the impact that GSUSA has had on my life and why I stand by them.

In January of 2000, I was student government president at the University of Pittsburgh, representing a student body of over 18,000 undergraduates. I was a huge leadership book junkie and an administrator handed me Hesselbein on Leadership by Frances Hesselbein, former CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA. This was the first leadership book I had ever seen that had a woman’s face on the front cover and was written about her own leadership principles. Being exposed to Frances at a pivotal moment in my early leadership experiences was transformative. And since then, I have had the fortune of having Frances as a trusted mentor whose wisdom has played a strong hand in guiding my own career.

She continued, “Women need these spaces. We know the outcomes for women and men in corporate America are very different. Women are just as intelligent and just as ambitious. It matters where people feel comfortable using their voices and being heard.”

As Marian Wright Edelman said “You can’t be what you can’t see.” Girls organizations like GSUSA and Girls Inc. are filled with female leaders that young girls can look up to and aspire to be. They shorten the distance between aspiration and reality by showing girls what women who used to be just like them can achieve. From my mentor, Frances Hesselbein who tripled the diversity of the girl scout members in the 80s to today’s Rocket Scientist CEO, Sylvia Acevedo, GSUSA female role models are visible and hands on.

More opportunities

While single-gender environments benefit both girls and boys, research shows that females especially thrive in single-sex schools and colleges because they empower them to become bold leaders and experiment with roles and interests usually relegated to males. According to the Goodman Research Group, “93% of girls’ school grads say they were offered greater leadership opportunities than peers at coed schools and 80% have held leadership positions since graduating from high school.”

Adolescents feel pressures worldwide, as found in the Global Early Adolescent Study by Johns Hopkins and the World Health Organization. Girls organizations like GSUSA meet girls where they are, helping them to overcome the unique challenges they face, like self-limiting behaviors and gender bias, with the utmost support and encouragement.

The last thing that girls and our society need right now is any attempt to undermine their success. And that is why I stand with the GSUSA and in support of girls organizations everywhere.